Baa Baa, Honk Honk
You can debate whether the proper metaphor is sheep or geese, but there's no question now that most of the usual Democratic suspects are falling in line behind the Clinton-Schumer position that they should vote for Alan Hevesi despite his use of a state worker as his wife's valet, and that they should basically ignore Eliot Spitzer, who withdrew his support of Hevesi.
Those now on record for voting for Hevesi and dissing Spitzer now include not only Schumer, Clinton, Bill Thompson and Carl McCall, but also Floyd Flake, Charles Rangel, Peter Vallone, the Empire State Pride Agenda, NARAL and its leader Kelli Conlin, and Freddy Ferrer.
No doubt we're missing some. But it's an extraordinary assemblage to be paying absolutely no attention to a Democrat who'll be elected governor by a huge majority and have all sorts of power in just a few short months. Enough to convince you that either Spitzer was winking to everyone who mattered when he told the public he couldn't support Hevesi, or that a lot of people believe what Ferrer told the Observer -- that he's voting for Hevesi "with the full expectation that he will not serve as comptroller. That he'll be replaced."
Maybe so. But what if Hevesi wins big? What if Hevesi tells Spitzer and Silver in January that the people have spoken? What if his lawyers tell Spitzer and Silver that acts he engaged in during his first term can't be a basis for removal in his second term? What if he goes to court to block them? Everybody may think Hevesi's finished... except for Hevesi.
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Comments (5)
Riley, stop with the "what if's already"...contrary to newsday's editorial there are alot of people that still respect hevesi and the work he has done for the state...the republicans blew it by putting someone up so unqualified...this is not enron..this is not haliburton ripping off the us citizens for millions of dollars...get a grip..take a deep breath..and let the voters decide who they want...and then let the courts and da decide what happened here..not the republicans or newsday for that matter...........andy
What if Hevesi is indicted Andy? Should he step down or should we wait for a conviction?
No -- this is not Enron -- but it is all about its political equivalent. Look -- if some other officeholder committed Chauffergate, apologized, and paid back the taxpayers -- you could think, "hey, no harm, no foul." But that is not the case here. Alan Hevesi has based his Comptrollership on going after local government officials misuse of government property for personal use -- i.e., the assistant principal of Podunk Middle School uses a district cell phone to call his girl friend. That's frankly what Hevesi's audits have gone after (and not so much the structural financial practices of school districts, disappointingly). So now, if Hevesi comes into my town's school district and chastises an administrator for such a thing, it should be OK if the administrator merely apologizes and pays back the taxpayer. Because that's what Hevesi is doing -- he has lost his moral authority to hold the job of Comptroller. However, conveniently, there's an election next week. Democratic conventional wisdom seems to be saying, "wink, wink...vote for Hevesi -- and after the election -- he'll step down or be removed -- and then Shelly Silver and pals can name his replacement. Wrong. If Hevesi wins -- he stays...because he can rightly argue that the public re-elected him with full knowledge of his transgressions. This election is all about accountability; and I'm a Democrat who will absolutely vote for Callaghan. He may not be the ideal politician or the ideal candidate for comptroller -- but he's no dope -- he will retain and hire the right staff for this job --and he's not beholden to the Republican party apparatus (up until a week ago they didn't even know him) --and he's far more worthy of the job than Hevesi. Plus, Hevesi's TV ads are despicable.
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